September 28, 2015

If you have experienced having the way your Walls and Doors (and other AEC objects) display change when selecting a different drawing scale, the most likely reason is that you have Display Configurations assigned to one or more drawing scales. When you select a drawing scale with an assigned Display Configuration, the assigned Display Configuration is set current. Depending on what Display Configuration was previously current, the change may be subtle (out-of-the-box Medium Detail to out-of-the-box High Detail, for example) or dramatic (out-of-the-box Reflected Screened to out-of-the-box Low Detail - where did my ceiling grids go?).

If you are using the out-of-the-box template files (or template files that are based on those), then you will have the following Display Configurations assigned:

(The above is based on content distributed in the United States. Localized content in other areas may have different settings in the out-of-the-box templates.)

After choosing the scale, you can then change the Display Configuration (back to what it was, or to some other Display Configuration), but you probably do not want to have to do that on a regular basis. So, how can you edit the Display Configuration assigned to a specific scale, or disable this feature? Use the AECDWGSETUP command to open the Drawing Setup dialog and select the Scale tab, if it is not current. (Or, go straight to the Scale tab of that dialog with the AECDWGSCALESETUP command.)

Select a scale in the Scale list box at the upper left of the Scale tab. The Display Configuration drop-down list just below the Scale list box will show the Display Configuration assigned to that scale. Select the Display Configurations drop-down list to see a list of available Display Configurations in the current drawing and, if desired, choose a different Display Configuration or select *None* to not have the Display Configuration change when selecting that scale.

Do that for each scale where you desire to make a change. Note that this will only affect that particular drawing. If you want to make changes that affect all future drawings, then make these changes in your template file(s).

We set them all to *None*, to avoid confusing casual users. If you find the feature useful, you could set up multiple templates, one for each drawing type (floor plan, reflected ceiling plan, etc.) to avoid having to reset the Display Configuration when changing the scale in a non-floor plan file. We have customized the Display System and use one Display Configuration for most contract document floor plans, so there was insufficient benefit to us to make using this feature desirable.

September 26, 2015

Revit® users, it is your turn now. Got a question about Revit® or Revit LTᵀᴹ that you wish you could ask directly of the Autodesk team behind Revit? Mark Wednesday, October 7, 2015 on your calendar; from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm U.S. Pacific Time, you can ask your question as part of the second event in the Autodesk® Answer Days series.

September 23, 2015

If you find that double-clicking on MText is not initiating the MTEDIT command, check the following things:

Is the PICKFIRST system variable set to 1? If it is set to 0, set it to 1. This is the most likely reason why the double click failed. You can also access this setting in the Options dialog, on the Selection tab, in the Selection modes area at the middle left of the tab, by checking the Noun/verb selection toggle.

Is the DBLCLKEDIT system variable set to ON? If it is set to OFF, set it to ON. This setting can also be accessed in the Options dialog, on the User Preferences tab, in the Windows Standard Behavior area at the upper left of the tab, by checking the Double click editing toggle.

If both of the above system variables are set correctly, the final step is to verify that your customization file has the appropriate double click action assigned for MTEXT. Type CUI at the Command: prompt and press the ENTER key. In the Cusomize User Interface dialog, on the Customize tab, in the upper left pane (Customizations in...), expand the node for the ACA customization (or whatever your main customization file is called), if it is not already expanded. Scroll down if necessary to find the Double Click Actions node and expand that. Look for a node under that called Mtext and, if you find it, expand it. The out-of-the-box ACA.cuix assigns the Mtext Edit command to the Mtext double-click action.

If the Mtext node exists, but does not have a command assigned or has a different command assigned, find the Mtext Edit... command on the Command List in the lower left. (TIP: Type mtext in the search bar at the top to narrow the items on the list and quickly find the Mtext Edit... item.) Left-click, hold and drag the Mtext Edit... item from the lower left pane to the upper right pane and drop it on the Mtext node under Double Click Actions. Select OK to save the change and return to the drawing editor, where you should now be able to double click on an MText object and enter editing mode.

If there is no Mtext node, you will need to add one. In the upper left pane, right click on the Double Click Actions node and select New Double Click Action from the context menu, and then immediately type Mtext to replace the default name assigned to the new node. Select the new Mtext node and, in the upper right pane, type MTEXT as the value for the Object Name property of the node (see image below). With the new node created, follow the instructions in the bullet point above to add the Mtext Edit... command as the double-click action, save your changes and return to the drawing editor.

If you have done all of the above and still are unable to double-click edit MTEXT objects, you may want to go back into the Customize User Interface dialog and see if any of the other customization files (enterprise, if you have one, or any partial customization files) have a double-click action assigned to MText; if so, try deleting all but one and see if that fixes the problem.

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About Me

I am an architect employed by EwingCole in its Philadelphia office, currently serving as the Design Technology Manager. In addition to using ADT/ACA and Revit on the job, I serve as a moderator in the AUGI Forums and formerly served as a facilitator for the Autodesk ADT/ACA Discussion Groups.